Antifriction journal-bearing.



p A, P, HOWE. ANTIPRIG TIION JOURNAL BEARING.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 30, 1909.

Patented May 1 1911.

2 8HEETS-BHEET 1.

A. F. HOWE. ANTIFRICTION JOURNAL BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30, '1909.

Patented'May 16,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ANDREW F. HQWE, 0F GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS.

ANTIFRIGTION JOURNAL-BEARING.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Application filed August 30,1909. Serial No. 515,167.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW F. Hows, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Granite City, in the county of. Madison and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AntifrictionJournal-Bearings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the numbers of reference marked thereon, which forma part of this specification. 1

This invention relates to improvements in anti-friction journal bearings and is shown more particularly as a ball journal bearing for cars.

Many attempts have been made in the past to perfect a ball bearing for railway rolling stock. As a rule, however, the same have proven ineflicient from any one or more of several causes and excepting from an 00- casional experimental use, ball bearings have not been used for railway cars of the heavier type and for general service. One reason for this is to be found in the fact that railway constructions are quite generally standardized, such, for instance, as truck pedestal and journal constructions and these standards are not such as to permit of ready adaptation of ball or anti-friction bearings such as heretofore devised without material changes,

which would entail very large expense. Furthermore, owing to the character of the service exacted from such constructions and the heavy weights to be carried and supported over more or less uneven tracks, it has heretofore proven difiicult to provide anti-friction or ball bearings for such purposes adaptable for the service. Of'course,

the longitudinal play of the journal in itsbearings is such as to render it exceedingly difiicult' to provide a bearing capable of withstanding the shock due thereto and in those few attempts to adapt such hearings to such journals, the result has proven disappointing because of the short life and unreliable service of the hearing.

The object of this invention is to afford an anti-friction ball bearing for railway rolling stock journals in which any desired number of ball races may be provided and" whieh enable as'many sets of balls to be .em-

ployed to support the-superposed load upon 5 5 the journal as may be'deslred.

It is also an object of the invention to Patented May 15,1911, I

afford a construction in which the cups and cones, while possessing the requisite rigidity to keep the bearings at all times in proper alinement, are nevertheless elastic tov a sufficient degree to absorb shockdue to the end.

play of the journal.

Furthermore, it is an object of the inven- 7 tion to afford a construction in which the ball hearing may be installed in substanmaterial change or. shifting the column bars, thus enabling the change to be effected from standard to ball bearings without materially lncreaslng expense.

It is further and invention to afford a construction of the utmost simplicity adapted to be easily and' quickly -,assembled or dis assembled and which, when in use, acts to reduce the journal friction to a minimum, The invention consists in the matters herefinally object of the if a. .tially any standard truck pedestal without inafter described and more fully pointed out and defined in the appended claims. 7 In the drawings: Flgure 1 1s a central section of a device embodying my invention taken longitudinally of the journal. Fig. 2 .isa section on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. '3 is e a section on'line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. tis a view similar to Fig. 1, and illustrating a modified arrangement of the bearing casing.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of; Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section on line 66 of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a fragi'nentary detail of one of the bearing members. Fig. 8 an enlarged fragmentary end elevationof the journal box.

As shown inthe' drawings: 1, indicates a car axle having the journal end 2, thereon, which, as shown, is constructed plain or without a fillet at the extremity.

"3, indicates a sleeve constructed in two partslongitudinally divided and adapted to fit tightly on said journal, as shown in Figs. i

1 and 4:. Preferably the ends of said sleeve are rolled outwardly as indicated a154, to

loo

afford stops and rigidly secured thereon are I the pressed steel cones 5, the innermost of which consists of a plate of steel rolled to afiord an upwardly and inwardly directed edge and a flange or hub adapted to fit ing ring 6, is fitted against the end of said hub portion and enga es beneath the 01. wardly and inwardly directed edge of said cone to aiford a positive support therefor and, also to serve as a stop att-he inner end tightly on the sleeve, and as shown, a bear-' of'said sleeve to hold adjustment. I

'- Slidablyrengaged- "the sleeve 3,1area succession of double cone-members 7 and 8, 5 e ch constructed also of pressed steel to afa ford aninner hub member 9, and complemental upwardly inclined cone surfaces,

said double-cones being adapted to titv to-.

:getber in pairs and to meet edge to edge cir- 10. cumferentially. A succession of such double cones aresecured upon the sleeve, the outermost of said cones 10, isconstructed as be-- fore described with reference to the cone 5, and likewisehaving. a supporting or bearing ,15 plate 11, fitted beneath the upper outer edge p thereof andbearing against-the end of the hub of said cone. 7

Inclosing the cones before described, and I the complemental cups therefor, is a contain- 2 ing member. comprising straps'of metal 12, flanged" inwardly at the ends and extending longitudinally of the; journal and within which are engagedlendbearing members 14. The end bearing! members 14, ,correspond substantially with the cones and 10, re-

Spctively, in which are engaged the inwardly'directed flanges on the ends ofthe straps and also against the edges of which 16, are peripherally notched to be engaged by the mwardlyyturned ends of said straps 12, and, of course, any desired number of bars orstrapsinay -be employed. As shown, however, butthree are used, arranged equal distances apart aroundthe bearing. Fitted .over the bearing thus formed. is a housing 18, of cast metal flanged downwardly. at its 'ends to engage the end bearing rln'gs 16, and

as shown, at its top provided with a central longitudinal rib 1 9, and lateral ribs 20 -21, all of said ribs being inclined from the center toward the ends to afford to a limited extent a pivot bearing-on which a slight rocking motion longitudinally the axle 1n the journal box indicated by 22, and shown in dotted lines, is permitted. As shown, fitted within the bearing member 18, and recessed at their inner upper edges centrally and longitudinally therein, a e resilient bearing plates 23, which hear at their edges and at the center of-said bearing member 18', and bear centrally at. their under. sides upon-the cups.

saidv cone always in .or web' 23,

. .courseythe' number of races may be varied to suit the loadt tobe' supported and the serv ice required. As shown, saidbearmg rings The construction shown in Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive is similar in all respectsto that before described with the exception that in lieu of the containing member formed by the straps 12, a pressed steel or cast casing comprising a lower partly cylindric portion 24, open at its top and in whichis fitted the cupsand the hearing as a whole heretofore described. Said 'casing 24, is flanged upwardly at its ends as indicated at 25 and 26, to afford positive bearings for the outermost cups or hearing members 14,' and seated thereon a complemental concave bearing member 27, which, as shown, is provided with upwardly directed flanges 28, at the edges thereof and a central longitudinal rib in the center thereof on which rests a centralboss 30, in the top of the journal box, as shown in Fig. 4. Resilient plates or members 31, are positively engaged in said bearing member 27, by means of rivets 32, which engage in 'the edges thereof, as shown in Figs. 4, and 7, said resilient bearmg members or plates resting upon the periphery ofthe cups to afford suflicient resiliency to assist greatly in absorbing all shocks and jars imparted to the bearing and are arranged so that each of said resilient plates or straps 31, bear upon at least two sets of said cups.

. The, operation is as followsfiThe device is readily assembled by first securing the cones upon the journal sleeve and adjusting the cones as may be required to properly position the balls. The cups are next assen':-.- bled in place beginnin with the innermost inserting the balls in p ace and pressing the next set of cups inwardly until all are in place after which the cage aflorded by the straps 12, maybe engagedin place or the construction as a whole may be inserted in the casing afforded by .the'shell24, and hearing member 27. This is accomplished, of course, after the end ofthe journal has been inserted into the journal box and of course, the box is jacked up to permit the adjustment of parts. When the weight is again supported upon the bearing the resilient plates 23, or 31 equalize the pressure on the cups which are all downwardly and inwardly and afford a resilient support thereon for the load supplemental to the usualpedestal or truck springs. Of course, I ampaware that details of the construction may be Varied and I therefore i do not purpose limiting this application for patent otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I I claim as my invention:

1. In a ball bearing cups and cones each formed of duplicate pressed steel sections, each adapted to meet edge to edge, the one to support the thrust of the other, and resilient equalizing plates bearing on adjacent cups and adapted to uilitypressure thereon.

1 2. In a ball bearingthe combination with a car journal axle of a two part sleeve thereon, cones each comprising duplicate pressed steel sect-ions slidably engaged on said sleeve, pressed steel cups surrounding the same, means positively engaging the cups in adjusted position, a plurality of sets of balls arranged in the races between said cups and cones and equalizing plates bearing on the cups.

3. In a device of the class described a containing member comprising longitudinal bars and rings notched to receive the ends of the bars theret-hrough, cups therein, a sleeve adapted to fit on the shaft or journal, cones thereon complemental with the cups and affording ball races therebetween, an equalizing member, adapted to be supported on the cups and equalizing plates vsecured thereto and acting to distribute the rality of cones (someof which are double) secured on said sleeve, cups, (some of which also are double) secured circumferentially around the cones, a containing member inclosing the same, equalizing springs or plates bearing on said cups and an equalizing bearing member supported on saidplates.

6. In a device of the class describedouter pressed steel bearing members, rings engaging therein on the outer sideand peripherally notched, and straps of metal hooked at the ends and engaging in said bearing members at the notches in said rings.

7. A ball bearing embracing in combination with a journal and the journal box of a plurality of cones spaced equally apart upon' .the journal, a plurality of cups symmetri-j .cally arranged around'the same, balls in the races afforded therebetween, amember positively engaging the structure thus formed, a bearing member adapted to rock in the journal box, and resilient equalizing plates secured in said bearing member and resting on the cups.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANDREW F. HOWE.

Witnesses:

LETHA Comm,- ALVIN A. SMEIGH, 

